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Paul M. Tellier (born 1939) is a prominent Canadian businessperson. Born in Joliette, Quebec, Tellier was educated at Université Laval and Oxford University. He practiced law in Montreal, Quebec until entering Canada's civil service in the 1970s. His exceptional abilities were demonstrated by a rise through the ranks of the federal bureaucracy through several high-profile deputy minister portfolios and culminating as the nation's top civil servant, from August 12, 1985 to June 30, 1992, when he was Clerk of the Privy Council (in the Privy Council of Canada) during Brian Mulroney's administration.
In 1992, Tellier left the civil service and was appointed by Mulroney as President and CEO of the Crown corporation CN Rail. Tellier was a driving force behind the successful privatization of the company in 1995 and was widely seen as being the principal visionary behind CN's purchase of Illinois Central which saw the company expand its focus from an exclusively east-west orientation into a north-south one. As such it was one of the first companies to reap the benefits of NAFTA. Following a failed bid to merge CN with Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 2000, Tellier led CN through the purchase and integration of Wisconsin Central. He also was responsible for hiring a management team focused on making CN a "scheduled" freight railway, largely by promoting former Illinois Central president Hunter Harrison to a vice president position at CN.
In January 2003, Tellier stepped down from CN (Harrison assumed the presidency of the company) to take a 3-year posting as the President and CEO of Bombardier. This was largely seen in the Canadian business community as an attempt by Bombardier to turn itself around, following several lacklustre years of growth in the aerospace and passenger rail vehicle markets. Tellier oversaw Bombardier selling its recreational vehicle production to the Beaudoin family (Bombardier's majority shareholders). Tellier also made several major cuts in the workforce and attempted to adjust and refocus the company on its core business activities. On December 13, 2004, it was announced that Tellier was leaving Bombardier, after he told the company that he did not want to stay for the full 3 years of his contract.
In 1992 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
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